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permanent sites in good tested areas and receives approximately 18 to 24 kg of honey per hive per year . These sites have to be in good secure areas to prevent vandalism and fairly safe for
New Langstroth hive showing ( top ) metal covered telescoping lid , then super chamber and below brood chamber and base . Ranged around on the grass are the inner components of the hive . Clockwise from left : Queen excluder , inner lid , brood frames with wax strips and foreground , super frames .
the beekeeper to enter and work into the early hours of the evenings . These sites are out of town on plots , farms , golf courses , etc . In all situations one supplies honey to the landowner on some sort of sharing basis . It is best to construct bee camps to protect the beehives and also gives the beekeeper an identity on these sites . ❑ Migratory beekeeping is where the beekeeper follows the crop for maximum pollen and nectar and will move three or four times per year . The honey crop will be about 60 kg per hive per year . The undertaking is costly but can be very lucrative if one has good selective sites and one plans moving the hives scientifically . The queens are
overworked in migratory keeping , without a natural rest period , and need to be replaced on an annual basis . This queen replacement is also very costly and involves culling all weak and failing queens and catching new swarms to replace these losses . Good planning and apiary management is the secret of success in the case of migratory beekeeping . In South Africa it is recommended that beekeepers use standard Langstroth beehives , which are made of SA Pine and are available from beekeeper shops and advertising manufacturers of all bee products and equipment , at a cost of about R1 200 each . A full hive comprises a fixed floor , a brood chamber with ten brood frames , a queen excluder , a super ( honey ) chamber with ten shallow super frames , an inner cover and a metal covered telescopic lid . The woodwork is
BEEKEEPING
treated with wood oil or creosote to preserve the hive from the weather and harvester white ants . Alternatively , most beekeeping supply stores supply hives in component form so somebody with a modicum of woodworking skill can hammer and glue his own hive together at a fraction of the cost of a builtup unit . Costs can be further kept to a minimum if the beekeeper has a good woodworking machine shop , where he can manufacture his own beehive to the Langstroth standards . Although in standard form a hive comprises a brood chamber with one super , a good , large and productive swarm can occupy two or three supers , so one is likely to have a few spare supers and their frames ready for use , even if one has only one or two hives .
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